US says it’s weighing Google breakup as monopoly case remedy

In a court filing Oct 8, antitrust enforcers said Judge Amit Mehta could also force the Alphabet Inc unit to provide access to the underlying data it uses to build its search results and artificial intelligence products. — Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash

The US Justice Department told a federal judge it is considering recommending that Google be forced to sell off parts of its operations to alleviate the harm caused by its monopolisation of the online search market, in what would be a historic antitrust breakup.

In a court filing Oct 8, antitrust enforcers said Judge Amit Mehta could also force the Alphabet Inc unit to provide access to the underlying data it uses to build its search results and artificial intelligence products.